Afghan Request for Spy Balloons Is Up in the Air

ARGHANDAB DISTRICT, Afghanistan—Chief of Police Niaz Mohammad had good news for his American military guests here: Security was improving in this crucial district bordering the southern city of Kandahar, and Taliban insurgents were no longer gathering in large numbers to stage attacks.

But Mr. Mohammad had a pointed question: When the Americans leave, who will provide the eyes in the sky that are keeping the insurgents away?

"At nighttime when they [insurgents] want to come and put in roadside bombs for us, we can't see them," he said. "We don't have technology like balloons…and that is a big thing for us."

As U.S. forces prepare to leave Afghanistan, the Afghan army is getting some practice with high-tech American IED detection technology, such as this tethered balloon, known as the Aerostat. WSJ's Nathan Hodge reports via #WorldStream.

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When the U.S. sent troops to Arghandab as part of the 2010 surge, it also brought balloons laden with surveillance gear. The craft, which are also known as aerostats and look like smaller, pilotless versions of the Goodyear Blimp, are a common feature of the landscape in Afghanistan. Military officers describe them as a "force multiplier" for spotting potential threats and protecting forward operating bases. Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates made deployment of surveillance balloons a priority for the Pentagon during the surge.

Most U.S. and international troops are scheduled to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014, taking their gear with them. And Afghan security officials are worried about how the cash-strapped Afghan military will fare without drones and other surveillance tools to spot insurgents.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said he would raise his government's request for better equipment when he visits Washington in the coming week. Senior Afghan officials say surveillance technology—including drones, balloons and other equipment—is on their wish list.

ENLARGE

A surveillance balloon deployed in Kunar province in 2011.
Reuters

"With regards to intelligence, we are dependent on ISAF," said Maj. Gen. Zahir Azimi, spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, referring to the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force. "We need training and equipment."

The U.S. State Department and the White House have yet to comment publicly on expectations for the meeting in Washington. But U.S. officials privately express concern that Afghan leaders are too focused on high-end military equipment that their military can't afford to sustain.

The balloons were developed as a relatively cost-effective solution for watching over remote bases. Cameras on top of towers are vulnerable to small-arms fire, and keeping drones in the air around the clock is expensive, according to a U.S. Navy news release from 2011.

The Afghans are already familiar with U.S. spy gear. In a trial in December in Arghandab, a detachment of Afghan soldiers tested their ability to launch a U.S.-made aerostat at Combat Outpost Terra Nova, a small base in Kandahar's Arghandab district.

As Maj. Gen. Abdul Hamid, the commander of the Afghan army's Kandahar-based 205th Corps, watched the 75-foot-long blimp lumbering into the sky, tethered to the ground by a long cable, he said this kind of equipment could give Afghan troops advance warning of potential threats.

"We can discover the enemy, we can see the enemy," he said. "If they are planting IEDs, if they are coming for ambushes. We can shoot them, we can capture them."

U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Paul Nakasone, who works for the U.S.-led joint command in Afghanistan, said aerostats could, in theory, be a useful asset for the Afghan military, which doesn't have a fleet of drones or manned surveillance planes to watch over the country's rugged terrain.

"They are not going to have the airborne fleet that we have right now," he said. "This is a great enabler for them as they look to the future to provide persistent stare on a target."

Top U.S. officers, however, emphasize that the experiment was a "proof-of-concept"—a mere demonstration. A formal effort to provide surveillance blimps to Afghan forces isn't yet under way. Launching and recovering the balloon is only one part of a complex operation, which also includes maintenance of sensitive surveillance cameras and other costly equipment.

The commander in charge of the coalition's day-to-day operations in Afghanistan, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. James Terry, told The Wall Street Journal on a visit to Arghandab there were "many miles to go" before moving forward with such a project, because military planners need to assess whether the Afghan government could afford to sustain its own fleet of surveillance balloons over the long term.

Afghan security forces, Gen. Terry said, need to play to their traditional strengths, such as information gathered from local informants—known in military shorthand as "human intelligence," or HUMINT. "I think they realize how much better they are in some intelligence, specifically HUMINT, than we are," he said.

Equipping the country's military is a sensitive point in U.S.-Afghan relations. Top Afghan officials have made it clear they would like a more modern military that is capable of defending against its neighbors, rather than a more rudimentary force that is focused on internal security and combating low-tech insurgents. And Afghan troops remain dependent on U.S. and international allies for medical evacuation and close air support—as well as for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

U.S. officials said the blimp project showed initial promise. Ray Gutierrez, a civilian who oversees training and employment of the balloons, said the handpicked group of Afghan soldiers who trained to operate the balloons were "doing a fantastic job," learning how to launch, recover and maintain the aerostats.

"They are capable now," he said. "And they know the terrain and they know the enemy."

Nonetheless, the planned withdrawal of U.S. forces is cause for anxiety in Arghandab. In meetings with Afghan police and security officials in Arghandab, U.S. officers heard a familiar refrain: The Afghans needed better logistics, and more fuel for their vehicles.

Mohammad Isaq, police commander for Arghandab's west side, turned out in dress uniform to meet Gen. Terry. He too asked about fuel.

Gen. Terry then asked him about how confident he was about taking the lead for security in next year's fighting season, as the Americans recede to the background.

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